Liberal group pressures Congress on cuts, taxes

MoveOn.org delivers petitions about fiscal cliff decisions

UPDATED 5:20 PM CST Dec 10, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -

Democrats and liberal advocacy groups are turning up the heat on Republicans over the "fiscal cliff" deadlock.

The left-leaning group MoveOn.org delivered petitions to some members of the Missouri and Kansas congressional delegation, asking them not to cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security during the current budget talks.

About 14 members of the group visited Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts' office in Overland Park on Monday, asking whether Roberts supports extending the Bush-era middle class tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year. They also want Roberts to support ending the tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of taxpayers.

"The principle here is fairness," said one of the members. "In good times, they got the tax break. In bad times, like now, they still have it. It is a two-way street."

Roberts wasn’t at his office, but members of his staff agreed to accept the group's petition. Staffers chose not to answer MoveOn's question about where Roberts stands, saying they didn't want to discuss it on camera.

Office staff members said that its policy is that all meetings are considered private.

Al Frisby from MoveOn Kansas said the group got a brief meeting without a camera in the room, but he wasn't satisfied with the results.

"This is terrible," he told KMBC 9's Micheal Mahoney. "We didn't learn much more than when you were there."

Some Republicans have said they're willing to raises taxes on the wealthy if Democrats and President Barack Obama are willing to make changes to entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The group also visited the office of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, later in the day.

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